GB News’ Home and Security Editor Mark White said the “resurgence of terror organisations” is “worrying” as terror arrests in Britain reach a five-year high, with international conflicts and hostile states fuelling the surge.
New Home Office figures show 248 people were arrested for terrorism-related offences in 2024, the highest number since 2019.
Speaking on GB News, Mark White said: “Counter-terrorism police say this is mainly a result of international unrest. We’ve got conflicts, of course, in the Middle East and Gaza.
“We’ve also got hostile states, such as Russia, China, and Iran, which are reportedly responsible for 20 per cent of the arrests made last year.
Mark White said it is “causing a great deal of concern”
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“These factors are partly fuelling the five-year high in the number of arrests. Of course, we’ve seen the impact of this in Germany, France, and even here in the UK, where terrorist attacks are taking place.
“These attacks have been fuelled not just by the conflict in Gaza but also by the resurgence of terror groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
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“At the end of last year, I was at a briefing with Ken McCallum, the Director General of MI5, who spoke in very worrying terms about what he said was a resurgence of those two terror organisations.
“Not only are they gaining increasing capabilities to launch terror attacks, but they are also instigating and influencing others to carry out those attacks.
“And we know, that these attacks can involve very low levels of sophistication whether it’s getting behind the wheel of a vehicle, as seen with devastating effect in Germany recently, or grabbing a knife and stabbing people, as we’ve seen on multiple occasions.
“So, there’s a great deal of concern from the police and security services moving forward.”
Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said: “The ripples of global uncertainty continue to be felt domestically and that is reflected in the number of arrests our officers made last year.”
Evans noted that counter-terrorism policing has been operating at a “very high operational tempo” for the past 18 months. Three “late-stage” attacks were disrupted last year alone.
The involvement of young people in terrorism remains a significant concern for authorities.
Of the 248 arrests, 39 were children, slightly down from a record 43 in 2023. These young people now represent 16 per cent of all terrorism arrests, up from just 6 per cent before the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Counter terror police say this is mainly a result of international unrest
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Evans described the trend as “concerning” with cases ranging from “suspicion of possessing a firearm and sharing terrorist material online to children suspected of preparing acts of terrorism.”
Mark noted there are 257 terrorist prisoners currently behind bars in the UK. Of these, 61 per cent are serving sentences for Islamist-related terror offences.
Far-right offenders make up 30 per cent of the terrorist prison population.
“So, roughly, it’s two-thirds versus a third,” White explained.
Home Office figures also show a record 78 people were in custody for “extreme Right-wing” ideologies by the end of last year. This represents a 22 per cent increase from 2023.